A new method for creating very efficient LEDs has been devised by scientists over at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. The team of brilliant researchers, headed by Hilmi Volkan Demir, have been able to produce energy efficient LEDs that emit a warmer and more natural looking white light than any kind of LED (or any other man-made light source, for that matter) available today.

Using a special layer of nanocrystalline coating, the researchers were able to build an LED that produced whiter light than ever without sucking up more power. This is a huge step in the right direction for the LED light researchers, who have been spending the last decade looking for a way to make LEDs emit “natural light” without sacrificing the unit’s efficiency.

By adding the special nanocrystalline coating to the LED structure, part of the blue light emitted gets absorbed and the remaining portion of unabsorbed blue light blends with the red and green light from the coating itself, giving the LED its “natural white” light color. In addition to the ability of producing very attractive white light, this method also makes the LED more energy efficient by enabling 300 lumens (the unit of light energy emitted from a light source) to appear visible to the naked eye for every watt of light that gets produced. This is great news, considering that the current lumen count per watt produced by LEDs today don’t even get near the 100 lumen threshold. Simply speaking, this new method of crafting LEDs give us something that’s 200% more efficient than before, plus it doesn’t need more power than today’s LEDs.

The only flaw of this method is that it requires intensive work, not to mention that it’s very expensive compared to other currently available ways. But like any other advancement in technology, this breakthrough will become affordable in one way or another, and one day we’ll all be part of this special piece of history. So now all we have to do is wait.